Problem with 'workman'. Help please!

nanna8

What is a bin cleaner? I am not joking, I am not familiar with them because I don’t think we have them here. We get plastic bins for rubbish and recycling and another one for garden waste but they don’t really get dirty. The main waste one you use plastic bin sacks so there is no dirt there. The others are for weeds, so no dirt and paper and bottles which we pre wash. You must have a different system.

The problem with the plastic wheeley bins is, unless you've had it from new and always use bin liners and bags in indoor bins the inside of the wheeley bin gets manky! When we moved to this house the previous occupants had dumped all manner of stuff unbagged into the household waste bin, including cat and dog poo! You can imagine how dirty it was I'm sure.
Once we were settled in OH blitzed all the bins, there's three altogether, and we now have the general waste bin cleaned every fortnight. It's £1.80 a time and give him £2, well worth it and he puts it back in place up the drive when he's done. Gets a good tip at Christmas and when it's hot weather we offer him bottled water too.

I think Germanshepherdsmum has said it all and summed it up very well.

I'd just like to add one thing though - are any of your neighbours having the same problem? It might be worth asking around.

You've said hes paid until august. So he hasn't been losing money. I doubt you'll get it back anyway so tell him to accept it as his notice period.

Hello Fanny. I can imagine how stressful this is and how intimidated you feel. I’m a retired solicitor. You paid John to clean your bin monthly until August this year. That created a contract obliging him to clean the bins each month or get someone else to do so. He breached the contract by not turning up for several months (over six months by my reckoning?) without explanation. He might have been in hospital with covid but not for all that time. He apparently made no attempt to contact you to tell you of his illness (if there was one). He could have got the woman to advise his customers of the situation and do her best to do the bins whilst he was out of action (or get someone else to do so) - but that didn’t happen and your attempts to contact him were fruitless. You were entitled to treat the contract as terminated, ask for repayment for the months the service wasn’t provided, and hire someone else, which you have done. I would suggest you tell him just that, and that you’ve taken advice on the matter. (I can’t give legal advice now I’m retired so just treat this as friendly advice.) Tell him that although you are entitled to a refund you are not asking for one (it seems you can afford to write the money off and I think asking for money back would just prolong this unpleasant matter), but you are not reinstating the arrangement and don’t wish to hear from him, or anyone on his behalf, again. Do this by text to avoid another diatribe from him, then block his number and don’t answer the door if he comes round. Personally I don’t see the need for having the bins cleaned, however if you want to do that carry on with Ben but only pay each time he comes, as you would with say a cleaning lady or window cleaner. Never pay someone in advance for a year’s worth of service! He must have thought he was on to a good thing, no wonder he’s so keen to retain your custom! John has shown his true colours and hopefully learned an important lesson in customer service. And he’s quids in, and has no reason to complain at that. After the way he’s intimidated you I can’t imagine you’d feel comfortable having him back again anyway - I certainly wouldn’t. Good luck and let us know how you get on, you’ve got masses of support here.

A bin cleaner is a person who cleans ones bins.
They typically come to your house once a month, on the day that the council has emptied your bin, in a van.
They hose down (with cleaning fluid and water) the inner and sometimes the outer of your bin.

Once you decide which cleaner you are going to go with just pay them once a month, so that if they do not come they do not get paid. Let the cleaner know that so there is no misunderstanding. I don't like the sounds of the conversation with the original worker I would feel intimidated also and then he could do it again. If it was me I would go with Ben and pay monthly letting him know that are the terms going forward. Best of luck!

We used to have our bin cleaned at our previous home about 20 years ago when wheelie bins were first introduced. I can't remember if we cancelled the service or it just stopped, but I'm pretty sure we weren't using it by the time we moved here. My bins don't need cleaning as I either clean (the recycling) or bag everything, but, as some others have said, not everyone is so fastidious. I live by a school and you would be amazed what other people put in my bin if it's left out all day.- never mind what they drop in my garden or in the street! That doesn't happen very often since I retired, but when I was working I came home to find an unwrapped nappy in my bin. When the bin was emptied the next week it stuck to the bottom so I had to remove and wrap it to ensure it didn't become a permanent fixture. I guess if people do that to someone else's bin they probably don't take proper care of their own, so maybe they need to pay for cleaning services. Unfortunately they probably don't care enough so the people paying for these services are probably those who need them least.

The 'why does anyone want their bins cleaning?' question must come from those who never ever have anything messy or smelly in their bins.

Perhaps they have a local authority which issues separate bins for food waste, and don't leave them unemptied if they are lined with a plastic bag (even a compostable one)

Perhaps they put every single item of rubbish in a plastic (NOT compostable) carrier bag, adding to the vast amount of plastic going into landfill for their greatgreatgrandchildren to deal with.

Perhaps they don't live where the bins for several households are all stored together, where anyone at all could be throwing anything at all into any bin at all.

Perhaps they are fit and well and strong enough to turn a wheelie bin on its side to wash it out and to empty out the dirty water and then set it right way up again. - or have someone living in who will do so.

For someone who lives alone, whose bin does get dirty and smelly for whatever reason, and who is not up to scrubbing it out themselves, finding someone who is willing to clean it for a small sum is worth it. For someone (teenager, umemployed person) who wants to make a few pounds, doing this is similar to jobbing gardening or washing cars. If there is a market for a service, a supplier will step into the gap. Good for them!

nanna8

What is a bin cleaner? I am not joking, I am not familiar with them because I don’t think we have them here. We get plastic bins for rubbish and recycling and another one for garden waste but they don’t really get dirty. The main waste one you use plastic bin sacks so there is no dirt there. The others are for weeds, so no dirt and paper and bottles which we pre wash. You must have a different system.

I was about to ask the same as I've never heard of a bin cleaner

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Just to answer the 'why does anyone want their bins cleaning?' questions.

Just to clarify, I am very, very fastidious about my bins and always put my general waste in pedal bin liners.

Recycling gets washed and put straight into recycling bin.

Garden waste in another bin. This can go a bit 'interesting' in the hot weather.

Several bin cleaning companies cropped up over a decade ago.
It was when the council changed to multiple bins; recycling etc; and crucially only emptying bins once a fortnight.

The bin cleaners must have seen a gap in the market.
It's just something that I've got used to now. Lots of people do it around here.

I hope that this clears things up!

Quite a few people seem appalled/amazed at others paying for a bin cleaning service.
There are many different services offered by local authorities - for example, my area offers no food recycling. All non recycling goes into the same bin. Occasionally a bag within the bin bursts whilst being emptied. The resulting mess would get obnoxiously smelly during warm weather.
Not everyone has a garden, outside tap, hosepipe, pressure washer etc. Not everyone is fit enough to use any of those items, or has a family member who could oblige.
The bins are very tall , and when half filled with water, extremely heavy. Tipping them to remove the water requires some physical strength and dexterity.
In many areas, enterprising individuals set up bin cleaning businesses or added the service to their cleaning companies.
As with any service, there’s always a market for many and varied reasons.

Whoever you choose to stay with don't pay them in advance. Especially a year in advance

There is a bin cleaning service in my area but I do not use them I line my bin with a wheelie bin liner and replace it when the bin has been emptied I also use neutradol bin freshner to keep it smelling fresh.

The house next door to mine is permanently rented and they have never heard of plastic bags so anything and everything is dumped in the bin. After bin emptying day, they choose the cleanest bin, usually mine. I clean the bins out as and when- the cost here for bin cleaning is something stupid like £4 a bin.

Thank you for all of your replies
I haven't read your answers properly yet, but will get back to you later.

Nanna2 trust me, if I was going to make something up, it would be a darn site more thrilling than this!

nanna8

What is a bin cleaner? I am not joking, I am not familiar with them because I don’t think we have them here. We get plastic bins for rubbish and recycling and another one for garden waste but they don’t really get dirty. The main waste one you use plastic bin sacks so there is no dirt there. The others are for weeds, so no dirt and paper and bottles which we pre wash. You must have a different system.

Things do leak and smells transfer to the bin as well even when it’s all in plastic bags. My garden waste wheelie bin can smell pretty funky after the grass cuttings have been emptied. I do rinse some of the recycling but my son, who used to drive a bin lorry, told me it was a waste of time because most people don’t and when it is all in the lorry the clean stuff just ends up mucky again. So I definitely need my wheelie bin cleaner!

Nannan2

Sounds made up this?if its not get advice from citizens advice or get them to ring john- maybe they will get your money back too! NEVER jump in to pay a year upfront for anything like this- or window cleaning etc, just pay as you go.?

Sounds made up?!?!
I'm speechless for once!

Before you know it Nanna2 will be accusing MaryDoll of trolling!

If I'm right you've paid up till August 21 then I should contact him however you feel best either phone or text and say you've paid in advance till August your quite happy for him to keep the money however you won't be requiring his services. Thank him for his work in the past wish him well and draw a line under it. If your happy with the new guy then stick with him. The bullying technique would put me off straight away.

i would ask him to repay the money you paid in advance and in good faith. I am sure he will not do that. If he continues to be pushy and or unpleasant tellhim you will be obliged to ring the police. Hopefully he will then leave you alone. I sympathise with you as this situation is not of your making. Inthink it is better to pay whennsomeone has finished the job, not in advance.

Yes Whiff some people have their bins cleaned it’s not really a new thing, we don’t actually bother,

When our window cleaner fell off a roof and broke both legs his father came to tell us. That's why we didn't get a new window cleaner. We were prepared to wait for him to get better. Your bin cleaner should have let you know. He still owes you as well.

You have a problem: you paid in advance! For jobs like this, pay at the time. A valuable lesson learnt, I think. You don't have to talk to the guy - he's lucky enough to have your money for work he hasn't done. Just tell him you will not answer the door to him any more. As for bin cleaning - they're bins, for goodness sake! If something nasty has left a residue after the bin lorry has been, get a bag of Fuller's Earth cat litter and tip it in. This will soak up and absorb all the nasty stuff. Leave it for a couple of hours or overnight, then get a spade in and loosen the layer at the bottom. Next time the bin is emptied it will all tip out. Job done at a fraction of the price!

Did the young woman drive the van and come round on her own?
if so I don’t see why John being ill would prevent her from continuing to do so. Of course they should have let you know what was going on regardless.It must have been a terrible time for John, but it sounds like he or the woman hadn’t been round for 9 months.Surely for some of that time he was well enough to make phone calls! You have paid for presumably a year in which no bin cleaning was done ( by them) anyway. As has been said good idea to get advice how to proceed.
Like a PP we had people in our area advertising to clean bins when we first had wheelie bins about seven years ago.We clean ours ourselves (occasionally) though, but I imagine it is a useful service for those unable to do it themselves.

Don't be bullied by John. He didn't run his business very well by not letting his customers know what was happening, how did they expect you to wait until they came back, if ever. The girl who helps could of even called or put a note in your door explaining what had happened. Stick with Ben and tell John that you don't need his services any longer, thankyou and goodbye.